Sonia, Rahul shouldn’t make song & dance about National Herald relief… it’s only bail, not badge of honour

Appearing personally in the trial court on Saturday, beleaguered Congress president Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul Gandhi secured bail at a surety of 50,000 each. It took all of 11 minutes for the mother-son duo to get in and get out of the court. Now that’s fast track!

Complainant and BJP functionary Subramaniam Swamy rightly pointed out that they have only been granted temporary relief, and that they will have to appear again on February 20 for the next round, as directed by the Court.

This is really historic. It is for the first time that the Nehru-Gandhi clan members were forced to submit to the Court since former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1978. There is one big difference, though: Indira was not handcuffed and produced before court for corruption! She was jailed on the same day 37 years ago…

The trials and judgments will come later. Meanwhile, it’s ripe opportunity for Congress crown prince, Rahul Gandhi, to seek a level of maturity. He also needs a new script writer, because the current ones are pushing him to his own doom. For all practical purposes, he alleged that the Courts are hand-in-glove with the Government, when he claimed that the PMO is influencing every move against them.

He must tread carefully. In the heat and excitement of the whole case, he is laying aspersions on the one true independent body – India’s venerable Courts. In the long run, this will boomerang on the besieged party.

There will also surely be pitfalls. Parliament proceedings, without a shadow of doubt, will suffer, and so will India… same old same old. Congress will be primed to object every Bill. At an all-party meet on Friday, assurances have been given that there will be seamless operation. But going by the volatile mood in the Congress camp, I have no hope.

Gandhis’ date with law is not over yet. They have won the battle, but the war is coming…